TY - JOUR
T1 - Is the ideal mother a sensitive mother? Beliefs about early childhood parenting in mothers across the globe
AU - Mesman, Judi
AU - Van Ijzendoorn, Marinus
AU - Behrens, Kazuko
AU - Carbonell, Olga Alicia
AU - Cárcamo, Rodrigo
AU - Cohen-Paraira, Inbar
AU - De La Harpe, Christian
AU - Ekmekçi, Hatice
AU - Emmen, Rosanneke
AU - Heidar, Jailan
AU - Kondo-Ikemura, Kiyomi
AU - Mels, Cindy
AU - Mooya, Haatembo
AU - Murtisari, Sylvia
AU - Nóblega, Magaly
AU - Ortiz, Jenny Amanda
AU - Sagi-Schwartz, Abraham
AU - Sichimba, Francis
AU - Soares, Isabel
AU - Steele, Howard
AU - Steele, Miriam
AU - Pape, Marloes
AU - Van Ginkel, Joost
AU - Van Der Veer, René
AU - Wang, Lamei
AU - Selcuk, Bilge
AU - Yavuz, Melis
AU - Zreik, Ghadir
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2015.
PY - 2016/9/1
Y1 - 2016/9/1
N2 - In this article, we test the hypothesis that beliefs about the ideal mother are convergent across cultures and that these beliefs overlap considerably with attachment theory's notion of the sensitive mother. In a sample including 26 cultural groups from 15 countries around the globe, 751 mothers sorted the Maternal Behavior Q-Set to reflect their ideas about the ideal mother. The results show strong convergence between maternal beliefs about the ideal mother and attachment theory's description of the sensitive mother across groups. Cultural group membership significantly predicted variations in maternal sensitivity belief scores, but this effect was substantially accounted for by group variations in socio-demographic factors. Mothers living in rural versus urban areas, with a low family income, and with more children, were less likely to describe the ideal mother as highly sensitive. Cultural group membership did remain a significant predictor of variations in maternal sensitivity belief scores above and beyond socio-demographic predictors. The findings are discussed in terms of the universal and culture-specific aspects of the sensitivity construct.
AB - In this article, we test the hypothesis that beliefs about the ideal mother are convergent across cultures and that these beliefs overlap considerably with attachment theory's notion of the sensitive mother. In a sample including 26 cultural groups from 15 countries around the globe, 751 mothers sorted the Maternal Behavior Q-Set to reflect their ideas about the ideal mother. The results show strong convergence between maternal beliefs about the ideal mother and attachment theory's description of the sensitive mother across groups. Cultural group membership significantly predicted variations in maternal sensitivity belief scores, but this effect was substantially accounted for by group variations in socio-demographic factors. Mothers living in rural versus urban areas, with a low family income, and with more children, were less likely to describe the ideal mother as highly sensitive. Cultural group membership did remain a significant predictor of variations in maternal sensitivity belief scores above and beyond socio-demographic predictors. The findings are discussed in terms of the universal and culture-specific aspects of the sensitivity construct.
KW - cross-culture
KW - maternal sensitivity
KW - mother-infant relationships
KW - socioeconomic status
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84983049716&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0165025415594030
DO - 10.1177/0165025415594030
M3 - Artículo
AN - SCOPUS:84983049716
SN - 0165-0254
VL - 40
SP - 385
EP - 397
JO - International Journal of Behavioral Development
JF - International Journal of Behavioral Development
IS - 5
ER -